Blankface Zero (Working Title)
by kstefan88
Summary: This story chronologically takes place before the events of Blankface and explains how Jacqueline became a warrior and how her training was. It also give some insight on the process of creating a warrior, Yoma and how though the warriors training really is. OC, AU.
1. I Yoma-Delivery

Author's Notes

_DISCLAIMER:_

Claymore, in all its elements, belongs to Norihiro Yagi

All the characters and story elements that are not part of the official Claymore storyline belong to me

Here I go with something that I have planned for a while now. It tells the story of Jacqueline before _Blankface_, a little about her human life, how she became a Yoma (that's what the M-Rating is for) and how her training was. But, what is of at least as much importance, it will give you a little more insight on how I picture those parts of the Claymore-Universe that Yagi has not shown us yet.

And, since I am a little stuck with _Blankface_, it is a good way for me to get thoughts that for now only divert me out of my head. Those who have not read _Blankface_ yet, you won't be spoilered much here. Those who are waiting for a _Blankface_ update: Bit... by... bit it's getting done.

And now:

Enjoy!

**I - Yoma-Delivery**

Night had fallen over the small village known as Eran. Bit by bit all the lights went out for said village to live through another quiet and peaceful night. It had been a normal day, as always. It's citizens had been to work, the children had either played all day or helped their parents out and a few of the men had gotten into a fight after having drunk four to five after-work beers too many, but all in all nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

That should change.

Not everyone in that village was asleep. One person that had entered it just a few minutes before was awake. There was a job to do.

She was standing on one of the rooftops, staring into the window of a house opposite of the street.

"Yes," she whispered into the dark, "that definitely is the right one."

In her right hand she held a bag that was struggling and wiggling heavily. She rose it to her eye-level, taking a good look at it.

"Really," she said, "as filled with energy as you are I am not sure if you will do as you'll be told to."

Like a shadow she leaped down from the rooftop she was standing at and scurried over the street. With her back facing the house's front door she took a few glances around to make sure nobody had seen her. The she pulled a key out of an inside pocket of her long black cloak and warily eyed it for a moment.

Then she put the key into the keyhole and tried to unlock the door. A little bit of tension had built up insider of her, but it left the moment the lock opened.

'Really,' she thought, 'how does he always do that?'

She entered the house and closed the door behind her.

###

Inside she compared the position of the window that she knew was the one her target was in to the position of the front door of that house and, as if she had lived there her whole life, instantly found the right way to that room.

The room itself had not been locked, so she could enter it without problems. There her target was, a boy, around the age of seventeen, was lying there, sleeping.

Her bag that had become quiet for a while began to struggle again, more wildly as before.

"Yeah, yeah," she sighingly said, "it's your turn now."

She opened the bag and a dark flash shot out of it, directly onto the boys face. The latter awoke instantly and tried to scream, but he could not, because the thing had completely sealed his mouth and throats. Also the boy could not see or hear anything, because whatever had befallen him had began to invade his head through every possible entrance. He struggled wildly and fell out of his bed while doing so, making quite a bit of noise, but due to his family being well-known merchants they had quite a fortune, and a house of quality. So the ruckus he made stood unnoticed. Not that anyone could have helped him, though.

The black mass that had jumped onto the young man's face more and more disappeared inside of him. The deeper that thing dove into him the less the boy struggled, until the black mass was gone and the boy had stopped moving.

Ha lay there on his back for a while, being watched by the one who had brought what had happened over him.

She gulped.

"It's disgusting every time anew. To think that those things are created by humans..." she mused, as the eyes of the boy suddenly opened and he, a little heavy-handed, got to his feet. He held his head and shook it, as he realized that he was being watched.

His eyes widened and he jumped backwards over the bed, taking a defensive stance.

"You kidding me?" he hissed. "My first time in what do I know how many years to have a body and right after waking up one of you stands in front of me?"

"Cut it out, will you?" the woman answered and made a few steps towards him.

"Stay away!" he hissed a little louder. "I know that you're stronger than me!"

She sighed. "My, will you calm down already? You act as if I was going to kill you!"

"What else?" he spat at her. "Has happened often enough already!"

"Oh," she said, making a wondering face, "then you should know the deal already, do you?"

Sliding a few steps backwards just to nervously notice that he had been driven into a corner, he yet again hissed at her: "What do you want to say? Out with it already!"

"Don't play dumb!" the silver-eyed woman lectured him. "You get a body and do your Yoma-things until you get reported and killed, that's how it woks."

His face turned grim. "So? I have not done my – like you named them – Yoma-things yet, so I have all right to wonder about your presence, don't I?"

The warrior stemmed her hands into her waist, looking disappointed. "So you are a rookie, after all?"

The Yoma, still in his human form, clenched his fists, before saying: "Instead of posing questions you could explain what you are talking about, witch!"

"Well then, " she sighed, "since there does not seem to be another choice I guess I'll have to. I brought you here to fulfill a job. If you do it as you are told, you'll be set free – until you let yourself get caught again, that is. If you don't do as you are told we'll just dispose of you. It's as easy as that."

"A job you say? And if I do it as you want me to I can go around and do whatever the fuck I want?" he asked.

"If you don't have your cover blown" she answered.

He thought for a moment. Basically he did not have that many options: the warrior in front of him was at least a hundred times stronger than him, his senses were good enough to tell him that much. So, disagreeing with her would only lead to him being killed again right away. Past experiences have shown him that, even if it is only the host, the human, who dies, it also is a rather unpleasant experience for the Yoma – him. So for now his only option was to act as if he was interested in the job that woman wanted him to take care of.

'That I have to take orders of... of such... that's disgraceful!' he thought grimly, but he asked what that job might be.

"Easy," she began to explain, "your host has a little sister. Tell me about her!"

"Little sister, little sister..." he mumbled. He was not used to his new host so it took him a while to find the information he needed, but eventually found them.

"I got it. Her name is Jacqueline. She has a great affection to her brother, especially since he is always protecting her from bullies and helps her with nearly everything" he explained, before, after a short pause, adding: "guess she'll be fun."

"She has to stay alive at any cost!" the one who brought him there emphatically said, earning herself a questioning look from the inhuman boy. She rose a finger and explained: "She has a strong will. A will that needs to be tested. Do to anyone else in this village whatever you want. No, actually, do to her whatever you want, as long as she stays alive and in one piece. If you eat every two to three days the town will send a request after a week, maybe ten days. Then, about the same amount of time later, one of us will be sent. She'll let you escape as we agreed."

"I can do whatever the fuck I want as long as his sister doesn't die?" he asked.

"Yes" she answered.

"You know," he said, in a nearly praising manner, "I never got why you were fighting alongside the humans to begin with, and I don't have the slightest idea what it is about that girl and her will, but I take it that you want her to suffer and, well, I can arrange that! Really, some of you seem to understand what our kind needs!"

The woman reached out her hand to him, which he took while evilly chuckling.

She stepped towards the door and, right before closing it, turned around to him: "If you screw up, you die. Do not forget that."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, shooing her away.

After the warrior was gone the boy sat on his bad, having the maddest of looks on his face, and rubbed his hands, whispering: "Great, great, great, great, great, hehehehehe. That's the jackpot! I can kill and eat as much as I want and I have such a lovely girl to play with and the best thing is that they will let me get away as if nothing had happened! This is so great!"

###

She had left the village only a few minutes before, as a man completely dressed in black stepped out of the bushes in front of her. She stopped in her tracks the instant she acknowledged him as her handler.

He wore black cloth trousers as well as a black sweater, a black hat and darkened glasses. A casual smile was on his face as he greeted one of the warriors assigned to him: "Ah, Sistina, there you are!"

"Hey, Rubel" she greeted back. "Everything went fine, he is a dumb one, so I pretty much think hat he has taken the bait.

"I see" he said, changing his view's direction towards the village the Yoma was in.

Sistina turned around, facing the same direction as him. After a short while she asked: "Will she be the right one?"

"Who knows" Rubel said. "No matter how long we search, if we find someone who might be fitting, we'll have to test her. She either does great, or she dies. There are only those two options."

"Still..." Sistina replied, not letting out her thoughts. 'Still... to doom a village just because there is someone who might be of use...'

"Don't forget the greater picture, Sistina!" he reminded her, startling her a little. "This is not about a group of humans, if we find _her_ this will have an impact on the world as we know it."

She sighed. "I know that. But even if she passes the first test, what, if she turns out to be weak? And even if she is strong, who says that she really is the one?"

A moment of forced silence followed, a stage-wait, like Rubel enjoyed to implement them from time to time, before he spoke up again: "We will know it, when _he_ has chosen!"

_Author's notes:_

A little more than I wanted to put into the first chapter, but I didn't want to keep you completely clueless about what is going on and why.

Stay tuned for the first update!


	2. II Beteigeuze

Author's Notes

First of all, thanks to the readers and Soutrick who also has reviewed.

Here is the second part, nothing else to say for now, besides:

Enjoy!

* * *

**II - Beteigeuze**

Jacqueline's eyes opened as she awoke. It was still in the middle of the night, so why did she wake up? She normally had a tight sleep that lasted past the sunrise. She sat herself up, stretched and yawned loudly. She then realized a strange smell coming from the corridor.

"Huh?" she wondered drowsily, "why is the door open?"

The door indeed was slightly opened and she could see a soft light shine into her room.

'Is it from brother's room?' she mused. She then rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them and got up. Making small steps she left her room while asking: "Brother?"

Directly after entering the corridor she stepped into something wet. She then looked down: it was red. Fear had struck her and her eyes had widened. Her little hands began to shake, then her whole body did. "Brother?" she asked again, more quietly that time.

Trembling she made hesitant steps towards her brother's room. The door also was open and the light came from there. Her heart beat stronger with every step that she took. "Brother?" she asked yet again. "I'm really scared!"

She appalledly realized that her brother's room was empty. She then ran to her parent's room calling out for her mother, just to realize that no one was there. She then ran to the stairs to look for her brother and her mother, alternatingly calling out for them.

At the stairs she stopped as she saw that they were full of blood, too. She could also see that the door that led to the living room was slightly open. Not realizing how stupid it was to go down there her right hand grabbed the handrail and she went down the stairs.

As she stood in front of the door to the living room she realized that the strange smell came from there. Nor being able to think she whispered "Brother?" again as she entered the living room.

"Oh, Jacci, still up at this hour?" her brother's voice asked her.

Before her there was a scene that burned itself into her mind and made anything else vanish. Her brother was squatted, facing her direction, over the body of her mother. Her stomach was torn open and her face was in shock. All life had left her eyes. Everything around her was full of blood. Her brother held a dark red slimy mass in his right hand. Both his hands and his face were also drenched in blood. He was taking a bite of whatever was in his hand, chewed a few times and then swallowed it. Tears were running down his face.

"I am sorry, Jacci," he stated, "but I was just so hungry."

Being totally dull Jacqueline stepped towards her brother and stopped just an arm's length away from him. Her view wandered down to her mother's corpse and then to the thing that her brother was holding. Without her noticing tears had begun to run down her face, too. She was so overwhelmed yet her mind was so empty, that she just had no idea of what to do. Not even her survival instinct that was desperately telling her to run had no chance of influencing her.

"I am so sorry, Jacci," her brother said yet again, "but Mum won't be able to make breakfast tomorrow." He then held the slimy mass in front of Jacqueline and said: "It's all that is left. You have to be hungry."

The girl's gaze wandered upwards to meet her brother's and then wandered back to the disgusting thing that he was offering her. She had no idea just what was going on. Her brain desperately tried to get through to her mind but failed. She had completely sealed it off. Her small, trembling hands slowly reached out for the red mass in her brother's hand. Whatever it was was not bigger than an apple. 'Yes,' a voice in her mind told her, 'it's your brother handing you an apple, that's it!'

Her hands took the slimy mass while her mind repeatedly told her body that it was an apple though that obviously not being the case. 'Don't worry, it's your brother handing it to you, everything is fine' the voice in her mind still tried to convince her body while not a single rational thought of her brain could reach her.

She took a bite. And it was disgusting. But it was her brother that gave it to her, so it had to be fine. Bit by bit she ate whatever it was. Her brother gave it to her, so it was fine. Truly fine.

###

A crowd had gathered around the house Jacqueline and her family lived in. "Is it true?" a man murmured. "A Yoma, really?" another one said. "That is horrible!" a woman said.

The town's chief arrived at the scene, too. "What in the world has happened here? Is what I have heard true?"

A man stepped out of the house and made his way through the crowd.

"It is terrible" he told the chief. "The way it looks we have a Yoma here."

"You've got to be kidding!" the Chief shot back startled.

"I fear that this is the case. The corpse of a woman whose intestines have been devoured was found by her son this morning. He said that, after he awoke, he found bloodstains in the corridor and immediately went to look for his mother and sister. His sister was asleep, but he found his mother the way I just described it to you."

"What to do now," the Chief mused, "we definitely can't afford to hire a Claymore!"

"A Claymore?" a person inside of the crowd asked. "No way!" another one answered.

The Chief fingered his beard for a moment. "Bring the boy and the girl to my office. I have an idea."

"Alright" the other man said and went back inside to get Jacqueline and her brother.

###

The Yoma, Jacqueline's brother, entered the office of the village's Chief. The distinctly shorter Jacqueline was holding his and. Her face was completely empty, as well as her mind. She was neither scared of her brother nor did she feel sad for her mother's death. She just did not feel anything. All she did was telling herself that it was her brother and that everything was alright.

Though she heard that her brother and the Chief were talking she did not comprehend a single word. She just kept staring nowhere and waited, though she did not really know what for. 'It is okay, it is your brother, everything is totally fine' her mind told her yet again.

"I understand," her brother said. "That is probably the best thing to do since we can't hire a Claymore."

The Chief replied: "Good. We will supply you from the outside with everything you need. It's good that you understand. And please take good care of your sister, she now needs you more than anything else."

###

Jacqueline and her brother were sitting at a small table in the kitchen of their home. Her brother had suggested to go to the living room, but Jacqueline did not dare to enter it despite the corpse being gone and the floor having been cleaned. She still was holding her brother's hand which she also did not dare to let go of.

"Don't worry" he said to her.

Her empty gaze wandered up to meet his warm smile. 'It is your brother. Everything is totally fine' she thought yet again.

"We will get everything we need from the outside. They just want to make sure that neither of us is a Yoma, so we will have to wait for two weeks."

Jacqueline blinked. "Aren't you a Yoma?" she asked as quietly as possible.

"I sure am" he answered.

"Don't you have to eat?" she asked.

"I will be fine. Don't be afraid, I would never harm you, would I?" he convincingly said.

Jacqueline blinked again. 'It's your brother. It's totally fine' she thought yet again. "You can if you have to" she blankly stated.

'He, now look at that girl' he mused. 'I've never seen something like that. Does she even know what she is saying? Or have I already broken her?'

"Do not worry," he said, "if worse comes to worst we will just break out and run away."

Jacqueline nodded before letting her gaze drift to nowhere again.

'Still,' the Yoma continued his thoughts, 'two weeks is a long time. Damn, I had just entered this body and the first thing I thought of was eating. Whatever. I will just enjoy my time with the girl and then break out the moment I can't stand starving anymore. Those stupid folks can't do anything, after all.'

###

Sistina was still watching over the Yoma from outside of the village. So far everything went the way it was supposed to: the Yoma had instantly murdered and eaten Jacqueline's mother. Since the village did not have enough money for hiring a Claymore they came up with a plan to find it. It was common knowledge that Yoma most of the time ate their family members first. So they thought that it was likely for either Jacqueline or her brother to be the Yoma. They had decided to lock them up for a set amount of time to see if either of them kills the other one. Then they would kill the Yoma themselves. That was indeed not that big of a problem, finding it was the difficult part – and the reason why Claymore were needed by the people.

"It has been five days already" she said to herself. "Tomorrow he will eat, no matter what."

"Perfect" Rubel, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere – that, at least, was what it felt like to her – said to her.

"She's doing fine so far, don't you think this is enough?" she asked her handler.

"Not yet" he began to explain. "You know what kind of person we are looking for: she needs an extremely strong will to survive. A will that lets her forget anything else as long as she is able to make it. Even though she went as far as eating guts because she was afraid of being killed if she didn't I don't think that this is enough proof yet."

"You see," Sistina answered, "the Yoma will eat tomorrow, there is no doubt about it. He might eat her if I don't do something about the situation."

"She will kill him if he tries" Rubel plainly stated.

Sistina looked at Rubel disbelievingly. "Let alone the fact that a girl can't kill a Yoma, I highly doubt that she will even try it. What if he kills her?"

"Then she is not the right one, as simple as that."

"I really don't get it. What does _he_ need a girl like that for?" Sistina asked.

Rubel then turned around and said: "_He_ is looking for his long lost love. And he is going this far to find her. Leave the situation as it is."

With that he left Sistina alone. She was staring after him for a while before she faced the direction the village was in again.

_Don't have doubt, Sistina._

"Don't startle me like that. I have no other choice than doing what you say anyways" she answered the voice that had spoken to her mind directly.

_If she is the right one she will indeed kill her brother, just as Rubel has stated. You are merely here to bring her to the Organization, if she succeeds._

"You know," she began to answer, "it is slightly scary how you seem to know about everything."

_I have lived for a time so long that you could never grasp it. I have seen so many things that you can't dream of. And I have learned to judge them and come to conclusions in a way that no other living being can do it. I can predict the future as long as I have enough information. And in this case the Yoma will try to eat her and he will do it tomorrow. If she is the right one, she will kill him. If she is not he will eat her. It's that simple._

"But," Sistina wondered, "what if she kills him and still is not the one you are looking for? For her to be the one you are looking for it is necessary for her to kill her brother, but not necessarily sufficient."

_Only patience will bring forth answers. If she kills him she has passed the first test, but many other will follow._

"And if she passes the test and I bring her to the Organization my work is done here, I assume?"

_Yes. You will be sent to Unikum then. And I will of course keep my promise of never bothering you with anything again. That also includes that you can keep your soul, no matter what you do._

"Be sure to keep that promise, Beteigeuze."

_Do not worry, I am a man who keeps his word._

* * *

_Author's notes:_

And there _he_ is. What do you think will Jacqueline's fate be? Will the Yoma that possesses her brother try to eat her or will he break out like he has said? Will Sistina sit by idly or will she interfere?

More to come in the second update, stay tuned!


End file.
